Senator calls for US support for Iranian protesters, rejects military action

US Representative Claudia Tenney posted an image on X on Tuesday showing a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being burned to light a cigar, joining a form of protest imagery that has circulated online in connection with Iran.

“Smoke ’em if you got ’em,” the Republican House member from New York said.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday released a statement expressing support for the people of Iran and condemning what it described as violent repression of peaceful protesters.

“Congress and the American people stand with the resilient people of Iran in their aspiration for a free and prosperous future. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reported killing of thousands of peaceful protestors for exercising their right to free speech," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen said.

"We demand that the government of Iran immediately cease suppression of its people. The future of Iran should be decided by the Iranian people," the statement added.

US Senator Tom Cotton on Tuesday posted messages on X criticizing Iran and calling attention to what he described as violence and atrocities against the Iranian people.

“As Iran slaughters its own citizens by the thousand, remember: this is a terrorist regime that has killed hundreds of Americans and tried to assassinate Americans on US soil," Republican Senator of Arkansans said.

"The world needs to see the atrocities being perpetrated by the Iranian regime on their people," he also added.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States could take “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters, adding there was “a lot of help on the way” for Iranians.

“There’s a lot of help on the way and in different forms, including economic help from our standpoint,” Trump said in an interview with CBS News.

Trump said the United States had already eliminated Iran’s nuclear capacity and accused Iranian authorities of killing protesters in large numbers, though he said casualty figures remained unclear.

“Nobody’s been able to give us accurate numbers about how many people they’ve killed,” he said. “It looks like it could be a pretty substantial number.”

Pressed on the end goal, he added: “The end game is to win. I like winning.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham said he expects US help for Iranian protesters “soon,” adding the ongoing unrest as a push to replace the country’s current leadership.

“They don’t want to live in a country where a 16‑year‑old girl can be killed for not wearing the headscarf,” Graham told Iran International in an interview on Tuesday. “Help is on the way.”

“People are being killed, I think, by the thousands. Donald J. Trump is not Barack Obama. When he says help is on the way, he means it to everyone out in the streets risking your life. Your children and their children’s children will benefit from your bravery,” the Republican senator from South Carolina said.